Forum Activity for @Jesse Blenn

Central America Cruise

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

That is true, and though you may find an occasional tree around Puntarenas, it is doubtful there are plantations due the drier climate. Possibly you could jump ship and travel overland from Puntarenas to Cristobal, which would allow you to see some things, including my farm if you like. I have a few hundred trees here about 20 km inland from Dominical (south of Quepos, south of Puntarenas). At worst, if you have never seen (or sucked on) real cacao and can give me an address in Puntarenas to forward to, I could send you some pods for the cost of postage....jesse blenn

Chocolate Technique: What would you like to learn more about?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Hello,As a small time cacao producer with about 600 trees, I would think that if you have a bean-to-bar process description you might also consider a short (very short, like one or two pages?) seed-to-bean process (planting, growing, harvesting) to which I could contribute some, though dont consider myself an expert. However, I could certainly proofread that part, as I sometimes see glaring mistakes about growing chocolate. I look forward to the book, I have a lot to learn....Jesse Blenn, Costa Rica

Small time cacao and fruit grower in Costa Rica

Posted in: Allow Me to Introduce Myself

Hi new friends,This is interesting, a forum for chocolate fans. While chocolate is my favorite candy, my main interest is getting my maybe 800 or so trees which I planted in 1984 back into shape after being abandoned for some 15 years. I'm on the south Pacific side of Costa Rica, 400 meters altitude, 200 inches of rain with a jan-march dry season. I won't bore you here with the details, but feel free to ask anything you want about growing.As we know, great chocolates are often combined with great nuts, and sometimes dried fruits. I have a great collection of tropical fruits and nuts, some of which would be great in chocolate, like dried rambutan or langsat, paradise cream (monkey pot) nuts, pili nuts, etc. I do not have enough land to be a major producer of these but am looking for crops that my neighbors could plant, a market for those crops, or to help any cacao farmers in other areas diversify into complementary crops, or exchange rare fruits native to their areas.
updated by @Jesse Blenn: 04/17/15 19:00:03